Exchange of generosity
by chloemcg
Summary: While standing on the balcony of her boutique, Rarity laments on her busy life. That is until a familiar Pegasus comes to check up on her. Can Rarity find a way to return the favor to a pony who had caught her in midair after a near-fatal fall? ThunderlaneXRarity one-shot.


**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters of MLP, they belong to Hasbro and their respective owners.**

 **I own NOBODY!**

 **Exchange of generosity.**

* * *

The evening was calm and somewhat enchanting, it was a time where some could just stare into the setting sun and watch it sink behind the hilltops that decorated the horizon, it was a time where some could just come out to calm down after a stressful day of work but, most important, it was a time where romance could blossom.

A certain marshmallow unicorn was in the category of being stressed from work.

Rarity sighed as she stepped out on to her balcony with her hoof rubbing irritably at her temple.

She had worked so hard at the Carrousel boutique and had spent the whole day, from five in the morning to seven at night, working herself to the point where she had used up a lot of her magic and her hooves started to chip from pressure.

Her purple mane was slightly dishevelled and she had big bags sagging under her deep ocean blue eyes and her ears were drooping.

She was the epitome of a mare who had a rough day of work.

She slowly walked out on to the balcony of the boutique and proceeded to stand unsteadily on her hind legs before letting her front hooves fold over the balcony railings so she could get a better view of the setting sun, letting herself be entranced by the sight of the sunlight fading into the distance.

Rarity let out a deep sigh as she finally let herself relax as her eyes drooped sleepily. She knew that it was uncouth for a regal and refined pony such as herself to nod off on a balcony but she didn't care much about this fact since all she wished was to get some rest before she had to continue creating a super big order from her client: Sapphire Shores.

She had toiled for the whole day so far and she had exhausted herself already.

So, slowly sinking down to lay on the balcony, Rarity closed her deep blue eyes and started to drift off to sleep.

But then, suddenly...!

"Hi there!"

"AHHHHHHH!" Rarity's eyes shot open.

She scooted backwards, almost tripping over her own legs and falling hard on to the concrete floor of the balcony. Her heart rate quickened tenfold and her eyes were as wide as saucers as she quickly backed away towards the door leading to her bedroom.

She fell flat on her bottom and found herself staring right into the face of the pony who had suddenly popped up out of nowhere, her frightened blue eyes staring directly into a pair of electric yellow/neon hazel ones.

She quickly raised a hoof to plant it against her heaving chest, making wheezing sounds as she breathed and she clenched her teeth as she tried to regulate her heartbeat and regain the composure she had lost.

She wasn't tired anymore, she knew that much.

So, slowly climbing back to her fours, Rarity scowled at her surprise visitor "W-Why did you do that!?"

The Pegasus in question simply gave a nonchalant smirk as he ascended just a bit higher before he gracefully landed on the stone balcony. His hooves made a clicking sound upon the soft impact they made against the ivory stone as the gentle glow of sunset revealed his stallion form to the shell-shocked mare.

This Pegasus stallion had a blackish grey tone with a silver mane that was in a flat Mohawk style with periwinkle blue upward streaks, his tail was the same colour but it was slightly shorter and less precisely trimmed. He had quite a strong yet average build for a stallion and he even had strong wings that looked slightly bigger than normal, yet it actually made him look even stronger than he probably was.

On his flank he had a cutie mark that was a gloomy grey storm cloud with a sharp electrifying streak of a lightning bolt descending from it.

As the unicorn took a good long at him, she realised that he looked somewhat familiar.

The Pegasus grinned sheepishly "Oh, um, I'm s-sorry for scaring you, miss!"

Rarity harrumphed and continued to glare at the stallion who dared to awake her. But she decided to give the stallion a chance to make up by explaining himself as she let out an irritable sigh whilst she melodramatically placed her hoof over her head.

"Hnghh...I should hope you are, don't you know its rude to sneak up on a lady?"

"I-I-I, uh, um, just wanted to check up on you...a-after the whole crazy incident at the Wonderbolt a-academy." He replied bashfully.

Rarity's eyes widened and she looked briefly shocked. It finally clicked who this pony was now, she had almost forgotten what he had done for her during that little mishap and she now felt very mean for just yelling at her past saviour in such a rude manner.

So, the second she realised who he was, Rarity looked almost paler than normal and she immediately apologised "Oh my! I-it's you! Please forgive my rudeness, I should have known better than to raise my voice to a soul as kind as you!"

The Pegasus stallion's eyes widened as he stared at the marshmallow unicorn in shock. That was a sudden change of heart, almost too quick for his liking. But he somewhat welcomed it with open hooves as he gestured to himself with a hoof "Don't worry. I just tend to do that with certain ponies."

Rarity found herself blushing when he said that. She looked away with a small secret smile as she glanced over towards the door "C-Certain ponies?" she echoed, her heart rate quickening.

The pony nodded in response with a grin as if aware by the awkward air surrounding them both. He promptly cleared his throat and took to the air as he flapped his wings to get himself off the balcony and make sure he would be caught in the radiant light of the setting sun as if to make himself look epic before her in a somewhat over dramatic manner.

The Pegasus stallion proudly exclaimed "I'm Thunderlane, pleased to meet you again!" He stopped when his wings suddenly got caught against each other and he plummeted downwards before he flopped on to his front clumsily.

His wings seemed to have become intertwined somehow and it took only a moment or so to untangle them.

It was an act that earned a small chuckle of amusement from Rarity as she looked down at him and held out a hoof.

Thunderlane shook his head to rid himself of the fatigue he felt before he took the hoof that had been held out for him and he smiled as the mare helped him stand on his hooves.

"Um...thank you. Sorry, I tend to go too fast sometimes and my wings tend to get tangled up..."

Rarity smiled gently "Its fine. And I believe I heard about you when Rainbow Dash was doing the tornado-hurricane thing that you Pegasi do. I also believe that little Rumble is your brother, if I'm not mistaken..."

Thunderlane nodded, cringing a bit "Yeaaaahh...I kind of had a slight case of the feather flu..."

Rarity quirked a brow as she added "...And Rainbow wasn't very happy about that."

The Pegasus stallion blushed and grinned as if embarrassed and sheepishly rubbed at his own foreleg. His wings quickly folded at his back and he started to look redder when he noticed that the fashionista unicorn looked at him rather skeptically.

"B-But I'm a trainee Wonderbolt now, so that has to count for something!"

Rarity nodded in agreement as she used a flirtatious tone and battered her eyelashes "Indeed, it must be sooo hard. Especially when you rescued little me..."

That was when Thunderlane smiled and noticed the interior of the balcony itself. It looked so posh and so regal and judging by the way the ivory stone felt against his hooves, one could tell is was very well cared for in terms of house-keeping.

If Thunderlane had to guess, this home reflected this mares personality and he knew that she was Rarity, the former element of generosity and now apart of the great council of friendship.

He had already introduced himself, now it was her turn.

But he decided to try acting like a true gentle colt as he bowed chivalrously "So...what is your name, my dear lady?"

Rarity frowned. This Pegasus didn't know her name? She supposed he did but he was just trying to have a polite conversation and she couldn't particularly fault him for that; as a matter of fact, she found it to be very flattering.

So, giving a polite curtsy herself, Rarity grinned "My name is Rarity."

"Rarity...such a beautiful name for such a pretty mare." Thunderlane smiled.

The two ponies shared a long silence after this. Neither spoke a word to each other for what felt like a whole century before Rarity glanced over at the young stallion who had previously ruined her quiet thought process.

He had continued standing as he looked quietly over at the sunset and he seemed to have been in a pleasant place of reality as he stood there lost and transfixed with the sinking sun.

The fashionista unicorn cleared her throat softly to regain the stallion's attention. She couldn't lose her professionalism now, that just wouldn't do in the slightest!

But it was then she noticed something.

Thunderlane's wings looked messy and dishevelled.

"Thunderlane, I may not know very much about the personal anatomy of you Pegasi but your wings look in dire need of some preening."

Thunderlane looked back at his wings when Rarity noticed them and looked surprised when he saw them. It was as if he didn't know the feathers were sticking out of place to begin with, he even seemed to have been embarrassed about it now that he knew about it.

Rarity shook her head and decided to let the stallion inside. He didn't seem to have anywhere else to go and it was beginning to get colder as the chilly air started to nip at the pony's skin, making her shudder because of it.

She even noticed that the stallion was shivering and she felt a strong obligation to assist the one whom had saved her from a heavy fall from the sky, the one who had caught her and held her in his forelegs as she hugged him nice and tight.

It was mid autumn and the cold was starting to creep into the air, it came as no surprise that the temperature of the outdoors was steadily declining to near sub-zero temperatures.

Thunderlane looked cold.

There had to be a way to repay him.

Then Rarity thought of something and her eyes lit up like stars "Why don't you come in, Mr. Thunderlane? It's freezing out here on this balcony..."

Thunderlane hesitated for a few moments "Are you sure? I don't want to bother you."

"Come, come, now. I insist." Rarity replied, trotting back inside the Boutique with her head held regally high.

She felt her heart do backflips when she heard the accompanying hoof steps coming from the stallion behind her and she hoped to thank him by doing just this.

* * *

The two ponies sat in the Boutique main room for awhile, chatting quietly and getting to know each other.

Rarity had been making some small talk as she went to fetch some materials with some other things, she was currently putting the finishing touches on her latest masterpiece. Tugging the sewing needle through the piece of red soft material, Rarity glanced over to the stallion whom sat contently in front of the fireplace.

Thunderlane held a nice warm cup of tea in between his hooves as he stared over at the clock that stood on the mantelpiece beside the fireplace he sat in front of. His wings had been freshly preened, the loose downy feathers had been rearranged into a much neater alignment and he seemed to have been basking in the soothing warmth the crackling fire provided.

The time read 9:35. Celestia had lowered the sun had long ago and Luna raised the moon in its place, it was quite late already and Rarity had no doubt in her mind that Thunderlane's family were missing him.

Looking back over at the unicorn, Thunderlane swallowed his swig of the warm beverage and he spoke up "So, Rarity. Do you run this place all by yourself?"

Rarity was caught off guard by that inquiry as she momentarily stopped sewing. She never expected such a question to arise so she looked as if she were a foal with a hoof caught in the cookie jar. Alas she quickly recovered her regal composure and replied as eloquently as she could "Not all the time. My little sister, Sweetie Belle, sometimes comes in to assist with things and so does Spike."

Thunderlane nodded, knowing all about the cute little filly and the baby dragon she spoke of. But then he frowned as he furrowed a brow at the fashionista with concern etched all over his face "But don't you get lonely here?"

Rarity pondered on that question. It was true that she could become quite lonesome despite the fact that she had amazing friends and she had her cat, Opal...she just didn't have time to dwell on this subject until now. She had always wondered if she would meet a stallion who could treat her right, and not that stuck-up brat Prince Blueblood.

She looked down sadly and continued to work, deciding not to answer that question.

The silence was all Thunderlane needed, though.

Rarity's head perked when she heard him say something "Well...I-I...If you want to...um, er, I can come see you?"

She could have sworn that her heart froze in her chest when she heard those words. Was Thunderlane, a Wonderbolt-in-training Pegasus, really concerning himself with her social life? She had been rendered speechless right then and she knew that her trachea had twisted into a tight knot.

That was the sweetest thing she heard any pony say to her and she couldn't help but break into a smile as her eyes glittered like diamonds in a starry night skies. But she kept her enthusiasm to a minimum, she couldn't act uncouth even if she had just been offered by a stallion to have some more company in the Boutique.

She even tried to hide the very heavy red taint on her cheeks as she continued to work.

Eventually, after several more minutes of awkward silence, Rarity had presented the Pegasus stallion with a nice red scarf which was more plain and simple then her normal lineup but it was hopefully effective enough to serve its purpose.

As soon as the scarf was completed, Thunderlane had already eagerly wrapped it around his neck and it looked quite nice on him. It had even been decorated with two thunderclouds that looked quite a bit like his cutie mark, it made the stallion look quite dashing to be honest.

But, as the dark grey Pegasus headed out the door, he realised something and turned to face Rarity.

"Oh...I don't think I have any bits on me." Thunderlane frowned whilst reaching up to the material and proceeding to remove it.

But before he could, however, Rarity interjected softly as she put her hoof upon his to stop him from doing this. She wore a soft grin and her eyes were filled with compassion and Thunderlane grinned gently back.

"Don't fret about payment, darling, you can have the scarf free of charge."

Thunderlane's eyes widened with disbelief and he almost swore that he had been hearing things. He simply rubbed at the scarf around his neck tenderly and repeated "Free?"

Rarity nodded with a smile "Yes. It is very cold tonight and it wouldn't do if you caught a cold."

Thunderlane didn't say a word to reply. He was just stunned beyond words right now and it wasn't just because of her downright kind-hearted generosity but it was something else. The marshmallow fashionista unicorn seemed to look so lovely in the light of the fireplace right now, something lit his heart aglow and he couldn't help but bow his head with gratitude.

"I...I...Th-Thank you very much."

Rarity shook her head "It is no problem. I'm just simply returning the favour..." She trailed off and leaned forwards, pecking the Pegasus stallion on the cheek before she finished her sentence "...for you catching me during that academy fiasco."

The stallion chuckled and sheepishly scratched the back of his head with a major blush creeping on his cheeks. Trying to hide his red face as much as possible, the stallion waved to her on his way out.

"I'll see you around, Rarity!"

And with that, he closed the door.

The marshmallow unicorn smiled as she sighed dreamily, her heart set aflutter. She could have sworn that she had just made friends with this nice gentle colt of a stallion and she even could have sworn that, just for a second, she saw his wings pomf...a sign of when a Pegasus is attracted to another pony. From what she gathered that could normally mean that he was happier than normal or such...maybe even infatuated.

Whatever the case, she liked that stallion and looked forwards to seeing him again when their paths next crossed.

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 **A/N: Hi, guys. This is my first mlp one-shot and I hope you all liked it. This takes place just after the events of the Wonderbolt academy episode and I just think that Thunderlane and Rarity would make a cute couple.**

 **I hope you all like this and please review.**

 **-Chloemcg**


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